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CC BY 4.0 · Eur J Dent 2021; 15(03): 469-474
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1721910
Original Article

COVID-19: The Dentists’ Perceived Impact on the Dental Practice

Alessandra Amato
1   Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, Scuola Medica Salernitana, Baronissi, Salerno, Italy
,
Carolina Ciacci
1   Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, Scuola Medica Salernitana, Baronissi, Salerno, Italy
,
Stefano Martina
1   Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, Scuola Medica Salernitana, Baronissi, Salerno, Italy
,
Mario Caggiano
1   Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, Scuola Medica Salernitana, Baronissi, Salerno, Italy
,
Massimo Amato
1   Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, Scuola Medica Salernitana, Baronissi, Salerno, Italy
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Abstract

Objectives The present study aimed to investigate the dentists’ knowledge of the risks from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and how it will impact their practice.

Materials and Methods An ad hoc self-administered anonymous questionnaire was submitted to Italian dentists.

Statistical Analysis Differences in rates were calculated using the chi-square test. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results A total of 849 dentists fully completed the survey. Eighty-eight per cent of Italian dentists are worried about the health of their families, with no difference in high-risk (red zone) and low-risk (orange zone) regions. About 86% of professionals report some income loss and 94% fear a drop in patients after the quarantine phase, with the dentists working the red zone claiming a greater economic loss and fearing a reduced practice after the end of the lockdown.

Discussion A large majority of the Italian dentists appears to be aware of the need for changes in their dental practices by planning specific sterilization processes between appointments, testing patients for SARS-CoV-2 serology, asking patients not to be accompanied, and reducing the number of visits per day.

Conclusion The survey expresses the serious concern of the dentists for the pandemic’s effects on their profession.

Keywords

COVID - dental practice - dentistry - survey


Publication History

Article published online:
23 February 2021

© 2021. European Journal of Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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